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sillysauruson How I Cured my RSI Pain (2010)

Actually, the scientific method is the heart of science, and the method is to check a hypothesis.

When the goal is to fix yourself, the only relevant sample size is yourself. And when the problem may be psychological, then placebo effect may fix it, because you believe you've fixed it.

sillysauruson I'm learning to code by building 180 websites in 180 days. Today is day 115

So she did some hand waving. So what? It's not a lie to say that she's teaching herself how to code. And at least she's doing something with her time.

sillysauruson How I Cured my RSI Pain (2010)

Chiropractic medicine for anything other than lower back pain and Acupuncture are two forms of alternative medicine that are well known to work off the placebo effect, yet the article mentions their use despite alleging to be a skeptic. This is a major red flag.

Trying something to check whether it works is orthogonal to being skeptical about it. In fact, it's the heart of science.

sillysauruson 10,000 Bitcoin Mining ASIC Chips Arrive in Switzerland – 3 TH/s

That's a complex topic with no clear answer. Philosophically, Bitcoin leaves much to be desired. But Bitcoin is the only realistic choice. The others (Litecoin, etc) just don't have enough momentum to be viable right now. Network effects make Bitcoin the only cryptocurrency with any short-term value.

However, regarding the philosophy: Bitcoin is a deflationary currency. That's a remarkable choice, because the prevailing economic wisdom is that inflation is a good thing because it keeps the money flowing rather than being hoarded. So most people probably wouldn't support Bitcoin's economic theory if given the choice.

It will be interesting to see how it turns out.

sillysauruson Embrace the desire to make money

SpaceX's goal is to get to mars, not to turn a profit. And that's just one counterexample of hundreds.

sillysauruson Apple Confirms That Its Dev Center Has Been Breached By Hackers

Anyone know if this was illegal, then? Or will his status as a security researcher (albeit one with poor judgement) protect him?

sillysauruson Apple Confirms That Its Dev Center Has Been Breached By Hackers

Interesting. Anyone want to weigh in on the ethicality of this? (Either side.)

Downloading 100k userdata records seems quite extreme, but is it unethical for a security researcher to do so?

sillysauruson The anti-virus age is over

It might not have been possible for an antivirus to detect Flame, because the people behind Flame likely tested it against all antivirus software before deploying it. They were very, very careful. It's how they escaped detection for so many years.

sillysauruson Neutrino shape-shift points to new physics

Whoops. Lecture 5's link is incorrect. It points to lecture 4. Here's the correct one:

Lecture 5: The Distinction of Past and Future http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ozjb6kQvBpc

And thanks to fjarlk for pointing out that I accidentally omitted Part 7!

Lecture 7: Seeking New Laws http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIN_-Flswy0

sillysauruson JavaScript Isn't Scheme

This conversation was incredible!

sillysauruson How a hobbyist game dev broke into the App Store's top 25

Which? How? Did they do a writeup about their experiences?

sillysauruson Neutrino shape-shift points to new physics

Physics is just mindblowing. When I think deeply about the fact that things that are moving will keep on moving forever unless a force acts on them, and the fact that no one knows why it's true (and that the question may not even have any meaning), and that my body is nothing more than a very advanced method of propagating genetics, then... well, it's just a lot of fun to think about!

The fact that there are mysteries that no life will ever have answers to is quite humbling.

If you find physics interesting, then you'll love these Feynman lectures. Feynman is so good at explaining these concepts that you don't even need any formal training to understand them.

Lecture 1: The Law of Gravitation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3mhkYbznBk&list=PL8976CAAD2A...

Lecture 2: The Relation of Mathematics to Physics http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kd0xTfdt6qw&list=UUR3AOHJ5xJv...

Lecture 3: The Great Conservation Principles http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_IfV9fkBhk&list=UUR3AOHJ5xJv...

Lecture 4: Symmetry in Physical Law http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQ6o1cDxV7o&list=UUR3AOHJ5xJv...

Lecture 5: The Distinction of Past and Future http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQ6o1cDxV7o&list=UUR3AOHJ5xJv...

Lecture 6: Probability and Uncertainty http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ja0HSFj8Imc

sillysauruson Fuck Off As A Service (FOAAS)

This is great!

In case anyone without telnet wants to see: here are 46 insults from that telnet service. http://pastebin.com/6SP2PucG

I'm partial to "Your IQ is the same as the temperature in this room. And it's cold in here."

sillysauruson Ads in Gmail displayed as normal emails?

One step further: If I'm in the "promotions" tab, then I'm actively looking for deals. So if Google can come up with promotions that interest me, then I'll welcome this new change.

It's not like they're spamming our other inboxes. It's just the promotions inbox.

sillysauruson Snowden's Dead Man's Switch

Why would the US want to kill Snowden?

I think this dead man's switch is deterrent against being taken into custody. If the US tries to incarcerate him, then the switch will trip and more secret documents will be leaked. Though maybe the US doesn't care.

I wonder how badly the US wants him at this point?

sillysauruson Poll: How old are you?

From direct experience: you can't group by age. Some older engineers are douchebags. Some are the nicest people you've ever met. Some are incredibly talented. Some aren't.

sillysauruson Poll: How old are you?

I was thinking mods should have the ability to kill individual threads of discussion in the comments.

sillysauruson 100% time

continued working on it while employed by a computer science research in the United States

I was referring to this specifically, not his time at Google.

His employer didn't realize he was working on Python.

sillysauruson 100% time

With "100% time" you certainly cannot legally do this. I can't go to work and devote some time to some side project using my company's resources and while getting paid to be doing other work. Sure, I could put in "100% time" into doing it, but it would be illegal.

It's worth noting that if every developer believed this, then Python wouldn't exist, because Python was one such project.

sillysauruson Are These The Most Ridiculous/Awesome Startup Perks Ever?

I'm skeptical. If someone comes in at 9 and leaves at 5 sharp M-F, there's no way they'd fit in at most SV startups. You're saying they'd fit in at ZeroCater?

sillysauruson The Unfortunate Rise of Patents in the Startup World

Without some sort of protection for IP, product companies rule. And when it comes to hardware products, that means companies that have manufacturing/logistical expertise rule.

Well, how is that unfair? Or are you saying it isn't? If it isn't unfair, then why bring up unfair competition?

sillysauruson The Unfortunate Rise of Patents in the Startup World

Which of those offenses do you feel Raytheon, Rockwell, etc were guilty of?

sillysauruson The Unfortunate Rise of Patents in the Startup World

I think at the end of the day, there has to be some protection against unfair competition

Would you define "unfair competition"?

sillysauruson The Unfortunate Rise of Patents in the Startup World

Another part of the patent game.

I'm just trying to understand the incentives to play. Why care about other technology companies, unless they've patented what you're doing?

sillysauruson The Unfortunate Rise of Patents in the Startup World

Seventeen thousand dollars? For one patent?

(AUD $17k = USD $15.7k according to Google.)

My car cost $6,500 USD. What are you buying for the price of $15,700? Just protection against competitors using your idea?

sillysauruson Is Sugar Really Toxic?

It's almost impossible to find canned peas without added sugar, sadly.

Thanks for the list of paleo-safe foods!

sillysauruson Is Sugar Really Toxic?

Where do you get your pork steaks?

Walmart, actually. $1.99/lb. It's all I can afford.

There's plenty to feel bad about in there.

Yeah, I feel bad that an animal had to die for me to live. But genetically my body freaks out if I don't eat meat, and the animal's already dead anyway.

Regarding fat in the pork steak, I'm not so worried about it. I try not to eat the fat, but even still, it seems like there's a decent chance that it's better for you than the additives present in almost all other food. We've been eating meat for millions of years, so I'm betting on evolution to take care of me.

sillysauruson Is Sugar Really Toxic?

Cut the processed foods. If it comes in a box, don't buy it. If there are ingredients you have trouble pronouncing, don't buy it.

I've reduced my diet to the following: apples, canned pineapple, pork steaks, canned corn, and tap water.

The advantage is that none of those contain anything artificial (except the tap water). The disadvantage is that probably no one else would be content eating only those things. But I've been forcing myself, because the alternative is empirically worse.

It's likely I'm just fooling myself. But even still, it's a huge stress relief to not feel bad about we eat.

sillysauruson Why We Can No Longer Trust Microsoft

Well, PRISM seems to have been created in '07. Plus Apple didn't matter very much in '06 -- not in the same way Google mattered. Apple didn't have much user data for the government to be interested in, because iPhone didn't launch till June '07.

That's actually a perfect example of leverage that the government would have used against a technology company to pressure them into doing the government's bidding.

sillysauruson DMT, the NeXT and the Soul of the Human/Machine

This is the first I've heard of the IRS retroactively taking most of the proceeds from selling stock. Is this a real threat? How should you protect yourself?